The first week of the new year has brought a string of terrorist attacks in three countries on three continents. Three foreign tourists were stabbed in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada in Egypt, a police officer in Philadelphia was ambushed by a man in an assassination attempt, and police shot dead a knife-wielding man who tried to enter a police station in Paris. Fortunately, none of the intended targets were killed but the other thread that ties the incidents together is that all were the work of Daesh (the self-proclaimed IS). In Hurghada, the assailants raised the Daesh flag, the would-be assassin in the US pledged allegiance to Daesh in a confession, while the Paris assault was staged by a man yelling Allahu Akbar – what has misleadingly become the common pronouncement of disturbed minds just before an attack - at 11:30 a.m., a year to the minute after the Charlie Hebdo killings. Daesh is apparently exporting its terrorism. Over the past few weeks, it has seen clear defeats in Iraq with the liberation of Ramadi in western Iraq and the continued attempts by the Baghdad government and Kurdish troops to take back Mosul. And since the start of Russian air strikes, Daesh seems to have run out of steam in Syria. But even if it losing battles and territories it once held, Daesh has realized it does not really have to go anywhere to attack innocents. It can extend its destruction by virtual remote control, radicalizing supporters abroad, best evidenced by the San Bernardino attacks, as well as the double assaults in Paris last year, the downing of the Russian passenger plane over Sinai, and the museum and beach automatic rifle attacks in Tunisia. In all these cases, the perpetrators were either citizens of these areas, were raised there or had visited Syria, Iraq or other Daesh indoctrination outposts, then returned home to carry out their horrendous deeds. But make no mistake. For all its losses in the battlefield, Daesh is still gaining recruits from outside countries. The current estimates are that since 2011 between 25,000 and 30,000 fighters, from 100 countries, have arrived in Iraq and Syria. The flow of foreign fighters is still high with estimates suggesting that over 7,000 new recruits arrived in the first half of 2015. Reports that Daesh leaders are moving to Libya must also be taken seriously, as a coalition of terror groups in North and West Africa may prove to be as difficult to roll back as Daesh is in Iraq and Syria. So far, Daesh has succeeded in the task of uniting countries, international blocs and coalitions against it. By all accounts the recapture of the city of Ramadi from Daesh was a victory for the Iraqi security forces which have been battling the militants for control of the key city for seven months. However, the prospect of an utter defeat of the brutal organization that still holds large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria remains far off. The end of Daesh in Syria and Iraq will not necessarily mean the end of Daesh. At the same time, the major cities of the world in Europe, Asia and even South America, with their populations of millions, may serve as places to lie low, recruit and plan terrorist acts. While a defeat of Daesh will deliver a blow to the hubris of the terrorist organization, the greater battle will be in people's minds. In the ideological battle, Daesh can recruit, inspire and radicalize would
